The 2018 Audi Q5 is best known for its quattro®-powered performance and its sheer utility, making it an excellent vehicle for moving around people and cargo. Furthermore, those seeking luxury will also find plenty to love about the Q5.

Quality

The interior of the 2018 Audi Q5 is impressive. The design philosophy is one that embraces minimalism and tidiness, that when combined with excellent material at every trim level makes the Q5 feel truly luxurious. The quality of assembly is impeccable and the whole cabin feels sturdily assembled even down to the consistent weight and click of all the switchgears. Thanks to that evident attention to detail, the Q5 feels like it was lovingly crafted. Nothing about it is unbefitting of a premium car, so it’s only right that the base model is called the “Q5 Premium” and that it only goes up from there.

Technology

If anything about the 2018 Audi Q5 outdoes its own build quality, it would have to be the sheer volume of technology it offers. The Q5’s centerpiece bit of tech is the Audi virtual cockpit: a fully digital, 12.3-inch instrument cluster that replaces the analog gauges in your regular car. In addition to displaying all the same information, it also displays navigation and audio information, including Google Earth™ and Google Street View™. This is supplemented by the full-color head-up display, the smartphone interface (including Apple CarPlay™ and Android Auto™) and the MMI® handwriting recognition technology. Instead of tediously attempting to find your way around using a virtual keyboard, simply make your entry and navigate the map by moving your finger across a large, conveniently placed touchpad.

Safety

The 2018 Audi Q5 is equipped with a serious collection of driver assistive technologies. Several variants of Audi pre sense® are offered, which in its basic version prepares the vehicle for impact when it senses one is about to take place, and in other versions can automatically brake to avoid frontal collisions with pedestrians or other vehicles. Other technologies include rear cross traffic assist, which keeps a lookout for incoming vehicles as drivers reverse out of narrow, hard-to-see space, and vehicle exist assist, which does the same but with incoming vehicles or pedestrians parallel, rather than perpendicular, to the car.

The 2018 Audi Q5 boasts all of the advanced technologies you would expect of a premium vehicle, but its excellent materials, attention to detail and build quality are what take it a step above the rest of the segment.